SOUTH BURLINGTON

VIEW & SUBMIT

Burlington Garden Club members make Valentine’s Day cookies at Faith United Methodist Church for the Meals on Wheels program. L-R BGC Co-President Patty Barry, Treasurer Jane Murphy, and members Camille Lovering and Rosemary Abele.

Baking with Love for Meals on Wheels

For the fourth year in a row, members of the Burlington Garden Club (BGC) made over 400 decorative Valentine’s Day cookies as special treats for the Meals on Wheels program. They planned, baked, and packaged the sweet treats that will be included in each delivery by the nonprofit organization which serves meals to the elderly and infirm in the area.

Peter Carmolli, current executive director of Burlington Meals on Wheels, said, “Like clockwork, the Burlington Garden Club is again brightening up the lives of the South Burlington Meals on Wheels recipients by providing them with homemade decorated heart-shaped cookies for Valentine’s Day. Our approximately 50 South Burlington residents who receive Meals on Wheels comment often how much they enjoy the packages they get from the Burlington Garden Club.”

Organized in 1934, BGC currently has close to 100 members and co-presidents Janette Hasenecz and Patty Barry are both South Burlington residents. The club’s mission is to stimulate knowledge and appreciation of horticulture, aid in the protection of the natural environment, provide instruction in indoor gardening and floral design, and encourage and promote garden therapy, civic plantings, and youth and residential gardening.

Along with the February gift of cookies, the BGC regularly contributes to the betterment and welfare of the city of South Burlington. They created and continue to maintain gardens at Wheeler Nature Park off of Dorset Street including the award-winning Butterfly Garden and the Grandma and Grandpa Gardens, which features heirloom annuals grown from seed. In addition, among their many projects, BGC hosts flower arranging classes and runs the popular Summer Youth Gardening Program in collaboration with UVM Master Gardener’s Extension Office. Outside of South Burlington, BGC maintains gardens at Hope Lodge and the Ronald McDonald House.

BGC member Doris Van Mullen said the group meets monthly at the Faith United Methodist Church on Dorset Street. She adds, “New members are always welcome.”

Meanwhile, heart-shaped cookies will add some love to the Meals on Wheels deliveries this February. Carmolli adds, “It is gestures like this from the Burlington Garden Club that remind me of how lucky we are to live in a community that cares about others.”